Advertising-rack



(No Model.)

I. H. RANDALL. ADVERTISING RAOK.

No. 880,696. Patented Apr. 10, 1888,

Fig. 1.

Fig. 2

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. UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

lSAAO H. RANDALL, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

ADVERTISING-RACK.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 380,696, dated April 10, 188i Application filed November 21, 1885. Serial No. 183,577. No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ISAAC H. RANDALL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Advertising-Rack for Street-Cars, of which the following is aspecification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

It has been the custom to place advertisingcards in streetcars at the corners formed by the roof and sides of the car. These cards have heretofore been simply tacked to the roof and side of the car, or held in place at each of said corners by means of two longitudinal strips-one fastened to theframe-work of the roof and the other to the frame-work of the side. My invention consists in an article styled an advertising-rack, constructed and applied at either of said corners, as hereinafter set forth, into which the cards may be conveniently placed and from which they may be readily removed, the rack being an article complete in itself adapted to be readily attached to the car at the place specified, where it will exhibit the cards therein in an attractive manner.

In the drawings, Figure 1 shows so much of atransverse section of a car provided with advertising-racks of my invention as is necessary to show their location and the manner of attaching them to the car. Fig. 2, drawn on a larger scale, is a front view of a portion of a rack having cards therein, and Fig. 3 is an end view of the same. Fig. 4 is a section of the rack taken on line 1 l in Fig. 2. Fig. 5 shows one of the transverse or binding strips.

The body A of the rack consists of thin material, and is of suitable width to be applied at the corner formed by the side B and roof Oof acar. I prefer that said material be deal, a, having cloth, I), glued upon the back to stay the same. Other material may be used, as sheet metal or woven wire. I prefer, also, to have the body of the rack curved, as shown, so as to present a concavesurface to the front; but it maybe of greater or less curvature than shown,'or even flat.

The body A should form a practically continuous and even backing to support cards, however thin and of any required size, when held against the same, so that they will not be wrinkled and may not he accidentally displaced.

At each of the upper and lower edges is a longitudinal strip, D, which is preferably of k wood and formed as an ornamental molding.

The inner edge of each strip D is rabbeted or recessed, so as to form a longitudinal groove,

0, having its inner edge adjacent to and in plane as the curved face sired in the rack by springing the upper and I lower edges into the grooves 0. Transverse elastic strips F, which are preferably of sheet metal, are then placed in the rack by springing their ends into the grooves 0. These strips, being placed over the edges at the sides of the cards, form a neat framing for the same and tend to bind the cards closely against the surface of the body of the rack.

The racks are fastened to the car preferably by means of screws at d, which extend through the longitudinal strips D into the frame-work of the roof and sides of the car, as shown. These screw-holes are beyond the outer edge of the grooves 0, so that when put up the fastening devices do not interfere with or impede the ready insertion of the cards or their movement in the grooves after they have been placed.

I am aware that it has been proposed to use a plate having a convex front surface and its edges bent over to form lips to retain alterable signs, and having its ends extended beyond said lips or turned over edges to provide means for fastening the plate; but such signs must be comparatively small and are not adapted for advertising purposes in street-cars, as they cannot be secured and supported intermediately of their ends, since should fastening de vices, as nails or screws, be passed through the edges of the plate, they would prevent the signs being freely slipped into place.

I am also aware that it has been proposed to use racks for holding advertisingcards in street cars, .such racks consisting of slitted tubes or bars extending lengthwise of the car near the roof, said bars being held apart by curved braces arranged at suitable distances apart along the slitted bars, but offering no support to the advertising-cards, which were held by having their edges inserted into the slits in said bars; and I am further aware that it has been proposed to make a cardholding device for street cars, consisting of a grooved molding attached to the car near the roof, into which one edge of the card is slipped, and a divided molding attached to the roof and holding the other edge of the cards, which, however, were unsupported except along their edges.

I claim as my invention- 1. An advertising rack adapted for use in a street-car, consisting of the body A, having a continuous concave face, and longitudinal moldings along the edges thereof having grooves 0, adjacent to and in substantially the same plane as the concave face of the body, in combination with screws or equivalent devices the adjacent edges of the signs held in the rack, 30

substantially as described.

ISAAC H. RANDALL.

\Vitnesses: WILLIAM H. SoLoMoN, EDW. DUMMEI; 

